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Comment by Spartan Youth Radio on April 19, 2011 at 0:06

This entry was sent to our email by HAYLEY C. from Lasalle Secondary School:

 

When Coupons Took Over the World

 

Today’s society offers many ways to save and spend money. Although spending money comes easily for most of us, there are those who have trouble saving it; then came the rise of “the coupon”! Coupons first saw widespread use in the United States in 1909 when C. W. Post conceived the idea to help sell breakfast cereals and other products. Today, more than 2,800 consumer merchandise offer coupons for discounts on products. In 2010, coupons for consumer merchandise generated more than 3.5 billion dollars in transactions within the U.S. alone! By definition a coupon is a negotiable certificate that can be redeemed as needed. Shopper’s young and old neglect to read the fine print when redeeming the coupon, as it clearly states “non-negotiable”. I can see the confusion when the actual definition of a coupon states that they are negotiable. 

I was blessed to find a part time job that involved me interacting with frugal Canadians, those that aspire to build their savings by using these coupons! The pettiness of the coupon can be just as annoying as the pettiness of the shoppers. Newspaper flyers include the following coupon savings: “40% off all Hot Comb combs, Monday through Friday only, 20% off all Hot Comb hair gel, Friday and Saturday only. Don’t forget to come in on Sunday when you get 40% OFF YOUR ENTIRE PURCHASE!” How misleading. Why not just have one giant store saving every day, or stop marking up the prices, because once the customer gets a hold of these flyers, all hell breaks loose. Customers do not leave your store until they have reached their highest amount of savings. If a customer is unhappy with the discount received, they have the power to come back on a day when there is better savings, return all the items and re-purchase them using the present coupon savings. You can see why cashiers need anger management and shoppers should consider hiring a financial advisor. 

Without coupons nobody would shop, stores would go out of business thus leaving me unemployed. Who knew the power a coupon could hold when it was created in 1909. 

Comment by Spartan Youth Radio on April 16, 2011 at 21:44

This entry was sent to our email by EVA BLACK:

 

"I hate getting ripped off!! I started a Ning account on the advice of a trusted fellow teacher. Long story short. Not enough time for the website. So, I need to cancel it. I spent 2 hours clawing through the cyberjungle that is Ning on hands and knees pounding at my keyboard, searching every little on- screen clue, summoning all my considerable powers as a champion consumer, for a hint of how one is to terminate the deal with Ning. Are they located on Mars or some discreet location in the Pentagon and therefore due to National security cannot disclose a phone number or Customer Service contact? In fact, with Ning there is no such thing as Customer service - you are on your own Baby! 

Ning is quite happy to give you all kind of help and advice for making your web page the best it can be, but PLEASE do not contact us - because you might want to, dare I say complain or even worse still, terminate your business with them. Since joining Ning, I have received eight emails regarding content and six emails regarding billing. They can use my email address freely and regularly imposing on my time and email space, but can I voice my opinion, can I talk to someone at Ning about an important issue that is not about content ? NO, I certainly cannot. "WE" at the Ning organization are too big for that. "We" are sitting up in the top story of our Ning Bank and we do not give a crap about what you think!

So, I say to you that before you sign on with anything using your personal credit card, check out the escape route. Make sure there is a back door, an exit strategy, if you like. Because right now I am trapped on Ning Island and I want to get off...please somebody help me.  Seriously guys, I need help."

Comment by Spartan Youth Radio on March 29, 2011 at 9:27

Enter once...enter twice...enter many times as long as each entry is unique!